CHAMPAIGN — The school district will have a new executive director for business services next year, but the person hired is a familiar face.

The Champaign school board voted unanimously at its Monday meeting to hire current Bottenfield Elementary Principal Matt Foster to fill the business position starting July 1. He replaces late Chief Financial Officer Gene Logas, who died in June.

THOMASBORO — Cuts in sports and personnel are in the offing at Thomasboro Grade School.

The school board agreed to pare the number of sports offerings — in part due to low participation numbers — and several staff positions, partly due to questions over the availability of federal funds for the 2013-14 school year.

For Larkin Armstrong, a Champaign first-grader who has special needs, spending time with her classmates without disabilities at school means they recognize her in the grocery store or around town as just another student who wants to learn.